


Eyes up

by r0nj4



Category: Druck | SKAM (Germany)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canon Trans Character, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff and Angst, Football | Soccer, Like always it's mostly fluff, M/M, Miscommunication
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-11
Updated: 2019-11-11
Packaged: 2021-01-15 00:53:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21244823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/r0nj4/pseuds/r0nj4
Summary: Jonas convinces Matteo to join his amateur football team. The best player on the team is some guy called David. Matteo finds David annoyingly hot and annoyingly rude.You know how it goes.





	Eyes up

**Author's Note:**

> I've been having a lot of feelings about football this fall because the team that I support have been doing really well (for once!) and that's what inspired this story. The thing is I only watch Swedish football, and therefore I'm not at all versed in the semantics of football in English. Anyway. I hope you enjoy this regardless. 
> 
> And I don't think you don't have to like football to read this fic! Matteo really doesn't :)

Matteo isn’t really a sports kind of guy. Neither is Jonas, to be honest, and the amateur football team he had started a year ago is unsurprisingly terrible. The team’s called _ Los Losers_. It’s living up to the name, at least. Matteo had never really understood why he had started the team in the first place. He’d heard some vague explanation from him once about wanting to hang out with friends more without drinking alcohol. Then again, Jonas had always liked planning and organising things, so maybe it wasn’t too weird, really. What _ was _weird, however, was when Jonas had asked Matteo if he wanted to join. 

“No,” Matteo had said.

“Please please please Matteo. We’re one man short, and if you don’t play Sunday we’ll be losing on walkover.”

Matteo wasn’t sure what walkover meant. “So? You’re still going to lose if I play.”

Jonas sighed in that way of his, his whole body slumping together. 

“We always lose, Matteo. But we haven’t missed a game this season. It’s a matter of principle, okay?”

Jonas had always been a man of principle. Matteo didn’t want to ruin that for him.

“You know that I haven’t done sports in… several years, right?”

A small spark ignited in Jonas’s eyes at that. He nodded.

“Ugh. Fine. When should I be there?”

The game is at 12:00. That’s preposterous. Matteo had gone out with a couple of friends from university the night before, and is still feeling a bit rough when he arrives at the pitch. The game is at a training field, mostly used by kids playing and for High School gym classes. Matteo’s been here before, the two or three times he’s actually watched the team play a game. Abdi had been pretty good in the goal. Carlos had been decent with the ball, but slow on the pitch. Jonas had seemed to have the right attitude but had been terrible at keeping the ball. Matteo hadn’t known the four other guys on the team, but they all seemed to be on Jonas’s level. Except one of them. That was David. He didn’t know David but he knew _ of _ David. David was the only one who ever scored any goals. Matteo couldn’t _ fathom _how someone like David had ended up playing for a team like Los Losers. 

The locker room smells like wet towels, dirt and feet. Jonas and Abdi are already there, seemingly discussing their game plan. The situation feels positively outlandish. 

“Luigi!” Jonas says. “You actually came.”

“I promised I would.”

“We saw the activity on your insta last night, dude,” Abdi says, and that’s a fair point.

He’d preferably not have been reminded of it. 

“Hungover?” Jonas asks, as the door creaks and a fourth person joins them. 

David walks in, already fully dressed up in his team jersey and shorts. 

“Not too bad.”

“Hey,” David says, fist bumping Jonas and Abdi. 

He turns to Matteo with an outstretched hand. “Matteo, right?”

“Uh-huh. David?” he says, shaking David’s hand. 

“Right. Nice to meet you.”

“You too.”

The team outfit suits him really well. Matteo has never thought of himself as someone who has a type. At least there’s not really been a pattern to his track record. And yet, there’s something about David in his team outfit. It's making Matteo all kinds of flustered.

The game is not very good. Matteo is placed on the defence, because apparently that means not having to run too much. He still feels like there’s way too much running involved. He tries his best, but his best is not very good. David scores a goal, but Jonas is slacking next to Matteo on defence, leading to five goals scored against them. Abdi kicks the goal post at the fifth one. There’s a forward on the opposing team who dribbles past Matteo several times. David shouts at him a couple of times in advance, seemingly to warn him of the forward. He isn’t quick enough to react. One of the times he stumbles over his own feet, and ends up with his face on the ground, trying to catch up with the guy. David shouts at him then, too. Matteo can’t make out what he’s said but it’s probably not anything good judging from his tone of voice. He’s relieved when the judge finally blows the whistle at the end.

“Are you still drunk or what?” David says to him in passing.

It’s like a kick to his guts. 

Jonas gives him a hug. “Good game,” he says. It only _ slightly _ softens the blow of David’s comment. He still feels a bit like trash. Mostly he wants to go home and take a nap.

Four days later, Jonas calls him. Mathias, they guy Matteo had been covering for, is moving to Köln. They need a permanent replacement. Matteo had made a conscious decision years ago to not conform to people’s expectations of him, and stopped pretending to be someone he wasn’t. He’s not a football player. That’s just not his truth. Jonas is his number one though, and that trumps everything else. He would do anything for Jonas. And if that means repeatedly taking scoldings from a hot footballer who thinks that Matteo is the worst? Well, then he’s just going to have to learn to live with that.

There's a jersey with _ Luigi _ written on the back, waiting for him when he gets to practice. He’s had to pay for it himself. The boys have given him number 69 because he hadn’t cared about choosing one for himself. He's surprised that Abdi hadn't already called dibs on that one. 

"Dude, I'm the goalie. That means I'm number one."

Matteo doesn’t really get football logic. David rolls his eyes at him and that makes him feel a bit dumb again, just as he had during the game. 

Practice is like football for dummies. The team has decided to move Matteo up to play forward, because he can apparently be surprisingly quick when he wants to. He thinks it probably has more to do with David’s worry of him fucking things up on defence. Playing forward means practicing passes with David. 

"You have to keep your eyes up," David says.

That might be easy for him but it doesn't come natural to Matteo, as someone who's spent years of his life with his eyes to the ground.

"But then I might stumble on the ball.” 

That in turn doesn't seem to make any sense to David, who just looks at him with raised eyebrows for much too long. "Did you play any sports? Growing up, I mean?"

"Nah," he says. "Not my jam."

He isn't sure how to explain to David, who looks to be very much straight, that he'd never felt at home in a locker room environment. 

"Right," David says, voice lined with exasperation. "Not your jam."

They play a few passes to each other and David makes him run laps around the field with the ball by his feet. He keeps shouting for Matteo to keep his eyes up. Matteo imagines his life as a motivational High School drama, and thinks that he's right in the training montage part of the film, with David as his stern coach. Practice is much more fun, after that. 

The next game is against a team of warehouse workers. Most of them are a bit older, in their thirties or forties. David can outrun all of them, but they're all burly men, and Matteo is scared of getting too close because they all seem big and strong. He tries keeping his eyes up the few times he has the ball, which has little effect since the warehouse workers are all big enough to easily steal the ball from him anyway. David scores three goals, all assisted by Karl who's the second best on the team. The warehouse workers score an astounding eight goals, though, so it doesn't really matter in the end. 

"Nice speed today, Matteo," David tells him in the locker room. He's sweaty and he’s got dirt on his shirt and shorts, and it's definitely a really great look for him, but Matteo isn't sure if he's being sarcastic or not. 

"Thanks?"

For the first time ever, David smiles at him. It's a small one, and is probably mostly related to David finding him a bit hapless. It's still a great victory in the training montage version of Matteo's life.

They all stay behind to talk about the game for a bit. David changes out if his football shoes into a pair of beat up black All Stars, and leaves without showering. Matteo’s brought a towel and shampoo and everything, but as he looks at the towel in the bag it’s like he’s brought back to being fourteen. Fourteen had been the worst. One day after gym class he’d gotten a boner in the shower. And not even because of anything he’d seen or anything, he’d just been fourteen and constant boners had been a thing. _ Josef _ had seen him trying to hide it beneath his towel. Fucking Josef. _ Are you gay, or what? _ he’d said and Matteo had nearly started crying on the spot. He looks at the towel in the bag, contemplating. He’s older now. He knows himself well enough to be certain that he’d never get a boner from showering with his team mates. They’re his _ friends _for Christ’s sake. 

He zips up his bag, and saves his shower for when he gets home. 

The first time he hears about _ Stoltz Football Club _ is one evening at practice. His third game with the team had also been a loss. Still, he feels more invested in the sport now, because hanging out with Jonas, Abdi and Carlos on regular weeknights is a lot of fun. He’s even bought himself a terry cloth headband, white with blue and red stripes. It adds to his imagined High School aesthetic. He’s also been queuing _Eye of the Tiger_ on Felix’s bluetooth speaker a lot, because that makes Abdi and Carlos happy, while seeming to be driving David and Felix a bit crazy. Felix plays defence with Jonas, and is probably about five years older than the other guys. Matteo’s heard some of the stories by now, and Jonas had apparently met Felix at some political event at some point. Felix's biggest contribution to the team had been bringing David with him to practice one day. 

Now Carlos and Abdi are working on heading techniques on the other side of the field while Karl, Jonas and Felix are all practicing shots by the goal. They're nearing the end of practice and Matteo's limbs are feeling sore in an oddly nice way. 

“Nice one,” David says. They're practicing Matteo's passes for what feels like the thousandth time.

“Thanks, coach.”

Matteo had started calling him _ coach _only last week and David keeps rolling his eyes at him at that. It’s very cute. 

“Not good enough to beat Stoltz FC, though,” David adds, passing the ball back at him. 

The pass is fast and hard, and bounces back from his foot, but he runs for it, manages to catch it before David does. 

“Stoltz FC?”

He passes back, tries to pass as hard as David had, but whenever he shoots hard he usually misses the mark. David has to run to the other side of the field to retrieve the ball. 

“Thanks,” he says, breathing hard when he gets back.

“Sorry.”

David gives him this stern look sometimes. It’s annoying as hell, but annoyingly hot at the same time.

“Try to dribble me,” he says, passing the ball back to Matteo. 

He’s seen David dribbling on the field. He’s not really sure how you’re supposed to do it. It probably shows on his face.

“Try to fool me,” David says. “Like, trick me that you’re going one way, but then go the other way instead.”

He sighs. “But now you know that I’m trying to trick you.”

“So?”

“Well, then it won’t work.”

“I’ll go easy on you.”

Sometimes he says things that makes Matteo want to jump him right on the field. It’s deeply disturbing. He tries doing what David has told him. When he’s closing in on him, he shoots the ball towards the left of David instead of the right.

“They’re this LGBT team. Top of the league,” David says, suddenly, and Matteo shoots the ball with too much force, because he’s caught of guard. David doesn’t seem to understand why, thinks it’s probably just one of Matteo’s normal mistakes.

“What?” 

“Stoltz FC,” David says, jogging to catch the ball. 

He dribbles past Matteo effortlessly. “Like that. Tricked you,” he says. Matteo hadn't really been paying attention.

"LGBT team?" he asks. 

David hums, kicking the ball around and doing these little tricks. "Well, I guess they're more a gay team than LGBT. Still, if we're ever going to beat a team, I really want it to be them," he continues.

"Why?"

David shakes his head. "I just hate them."

It feels like a part of the story is missing. The words still leave a dull ache somewhere inside of him.

The fourth game is against a team quite similar to theirs, a mix of guys in their twenties. Abdi is recovering from influenza and Carlos has to take over as goalie. He’s terrified.

“How do goalkeepers just throw themselves into the air?” Carlos says. “I’m gonna break all of my bones.”

They’re in the locker room. The game starts in ten minutes.

“That’s why Abdi’s been practicing falling and landing,” Jonas says, as if it's a completely rational thing to say.

Matteo’s wearing his headband today, because he knows that David thinks it makes him look ridiculous and unprofessional, which is stupid because they’re in an amateur team in the lowest tier of German football. Plus, annoying David has become a new personal goal of his ever since his weird comment during practice.

“A goalkeeper who’s scared of falling? We’re really up for a win tonight, _ lads_,” Felix says, complete with British twang. Despite being terrible on the pitch he’s actually the most invested football supporter out of all of the guys. He’s a Liverpool man. 

“You’ll be fine Carlos. Me, Jonas and Felix will try to keep as many of their guys out of the box as possible,” David says. 

“You?” 

“Yeah. You’re fine with being alone up top, right?” David asks.

Matteo’s really not fine with that. 

“Can’t Chris do defence?”

Chris is Abdi’s substitute. He works for the same company as David and Felix and had been called in at last minute. 

“Chris? Have you seen Chris?”

Matteo has. He’d arrived at the field in a pair of loafers and fancy looking suit jacket.

“Chris doesn’t even know what defence means. We’re kind of low on options here, Matteo. And I wouldn’t want a two man defence Carlos’s first time in the goal.”

Matteo can kind of see his point, and there’s something annoyingly hot about him every time he speaks with so much conviction. Still, something inside of Matteo wants to keep needling him. He’d love to see David uncomfortable.

“Fine. I’m a great top,” Matteo says.

It's not an entirely truthful statement. He doesn't really have enough experience to know what he's great at.

Still, Carlos laughs, loud and boisterous. Jonas smiles and shakes his head. David seems to not get the joke.

The game isn’t much different from their previous games. David keeps yelling “Eyes up, Matteo!” at him, which has started feeling a bit demeaning. He’s keeping his eyes up to the best of his abilities, _ thank you very much_. He’s running faster than usual, working harder, mostly to spite David. Somehow, that works to his disadvantage. It’s unfortunately really difficult to spite someone on your own team by playing _ better_. Towards the end of the game, six goals scored against them and zero goals in their favour, Matteo’s alone against the other team’s goalkeeper. David’s words from practice echo in his brain. _ Just shoot as hard as you can. _ He does just that.

Somehow, he scores. It’s the first time he’s scored a goal in his life, and it’s weird how something small like that can make you feel so _ good. _ He’s shouting, and jumping, and celebrating. Soon he’s on the ground, the rest _ of Los Losers _in a pile on top of him.

They lose the game, but morale feels greatly boosted. Matteo makes the conscious decision to hug everyone on his team after the game. Even Chris. Everyone except David, who gives him a look like Matteo’s the one being rude. 

During his sixth game, or maybe seventh because Matteo’s lost count, it rains. The pitch is muddy and he’s already slipped _ twice_. They’re losing again, despite Abdi’s fortunate return to the the goal. David’s been on his back all evening, becoming a bit more angry at Matteo every time the opposing team scores.

“Why the fuck didn’t you stay with him?” he shouts.

Matteo had slipped yet again, and a defender had stolen the ball. They’re down by five goals, now. 

“It’s not that fucking easy, is it?” 

David balks. He’s not used to him ever fighting back. 

“Just try to watch where you run! Jesus fucking Christ.”

Matteo had been terrible at controlling his anger when he was younger, and he’d spent years working hard to overcome that part of himself. That moment on the pitch, he feels all of his work slipping away from him as anger, white and hot, rushes through him. It’s their ball since the other team just scored, and Jonas is placing it on the centre spot, preparing for kick-off. Matteo has been responsible for kick-off lately, because that gives David opportunity to run. 

“Matteo?” Jonas says.

His blood is boiling. 

“Just do it already,” David sighs at him. 

Matteo snaps, and runs towards David instead of the ball.

He slows down, gets up right in David’s face.

“What the fuck?” Matteo shouts and pushes his shoulders. “Could you get off my back for one second?” 

David pushes him back, and he’s stronger than Matteo. They end up in the mud, their legs tangling and arms and hands pushing against each others. He can’t make out any sounds because the anger has a way of shutting things out. David is on top of him, mud smeared on his face, and he gets a knee in Matteo’s crotch. He sees stars in front of his eyes, but manages to elbow David in the side. 

Suddenly, it’s all over. Felix and Jonas are dragging David off of him. He feels the mud seeping through his shorts, soaking his boxers. He’s out of breath. 

“What the fuck was that?” Jonas asks, his hand outreached and waiting for Matteo to grab it. He stands up on his own, dries the mud from his face with a sleeve that’s probably muddy enough that it’s only making it worse.

Jonas has his hands on Matteo’s shoulders. Looks into his eyes. “Hey. Talk to me.”

Matteo doesn’t have anything to say. The pitch is eerily quiet, the other players looking at him and David in shock. You’re not supposed to fight your own team mates. Even Matteo knows that. 

He shrugs. “He was being a dick.”

“Yeah, he was. Doesn’t mean you get to fight him.”

He sighs.

“Just apologize so we can finish the game, at least?” Jonas pleads.

Jonas hates walkovers. And Jonas matters the most.

David’s jersey and shorts are stained in swirls of green and muddy brown. His hair is curlier than usual. Matteo thinks that might be because of the rain. Looking at him hurts. It makes something twist and twirl in Matteo’s belly. He’s possibly the most infuriating person Matteo’s ever met but he’s also, probably, the most beautiful. Matteo hates him for that.

Matteo nods. “Sorry.”

He nods back.

“Yeah, sorry.”

David reaches out a hand. 

Matteo shakes it.

  
  


They skip practice the week before their game against Stoltz, because the weather stays terrible. Cloudy and gray, much like Matteo’s thoughts. He’s been worrying about the fight with David for _ days_, and he’s not at all prepared for the game. His day turns even worse in a matter of seconds when he gets to the pitch on Sunday.

_ Paul _ is there.

He's warming up on the pitch when Matteo gets there, dressed in a rainbow coloured jersey with the Stoltz FC logo on his chest. He's just as handsome as Matteo had remembered him. He goes into the locker room to hide. David and Jonas are already there, laughing and talking animatedly about something. 

They're both shirtless. Seeing Jonas shirtless is old news so he doesn't really care about that. David is a different story all together; with his wide back and the defined muscles of his shoulders on full display. He might be a dick, but he's a very good looking dick.

"Matteo?" Jonas says.

"Huh?"

"You stuck?"

He's definitely let it slip to Jonas that he thinks David is hot, and now Jonas is looking at him like it's obvious. Hopefully David doesn't get it. He's not going to hide who he is around David though, because he might be a dick but Matteo isn't afraid of him.

"Uh," he starts. "Paul is out there. On the other team."

Jonas face is _ twisted _ in shock. If Matteo hadn't been feeling so nervous he would've found it hilarious. "_Paul_, Paul?" 

Matteo nods.

"Paul?" David says. He's got his jersey on now which is a bit disappointing.

"Asshole of the year Paul. Biggest douche of the century Paul," Jonas says. "Fucking hell I hate that guy."

Jonas is the best number one a guy could have, honestly.

"Why do we hate him?" David asks, tying his laces.

Jonas gives Matteo a look at that, like he’s asking for permission. Matteo nods.

"He ghosted Matteo. In the most douchey kind of way."

He prepares for whatever blow might come from David, the guy who’s made a show of hating the gay team. He looks at Matteo like he's shocked, but not like he’s disgusted.

"Ghosted?"

Matteo sighs. "Hooked up. Acted nice. Never answered a message again. Ghosted."

The story is much longer than that of course, but David doesn't seem to be the kind of guy who wants to hear about Matteo's first experience with bottoming, nor does he seem to be the kind of guy Matteo would ever consider sharing that kind of information with. 

"Ah."

It's very quiet in the locker room. But then again, he had gotten there before Carlos and Abdi, so it’s not too odd.

“I told you those guys were idiots," David says. "Let's break their legs on the pitch."

Matteo doesn't get him, he really doesn’t. 

Still, he does agree with the sentiment. 

Paul looks _ baffled _ when he first sees Matteo on the field. As if Matteo’s the last person he’d expected to meet that day. Matteo might still be a bit stunned at seeing him there too, but at least the feeling is mutual and Matteo hopes that it might work in his team’s favour. 

“Matteo,” Paul nods. “Wouldn’t have pegged you for a sports guy.”

Matteo smirks. 

David is looking at Paul like he might seriously be considering breaking his legs, and despite Matteo’s mixed feeling about David, there’s definitely something funny about that.

“Always happy to surprise,” Matteo says.

Paul chuckles, slow and deep. His deep voice had been one of the things Matteo had found attractive about him when they had first started seeing each other. Now it makes him want to crush him on the football field. He’s never really been _ this _invested in the sport until this very moment. 

The referee blows the whistle, and the game begins.

For once, everything just seems to click. Paul is playing midfield, and David steals the ball from him time and time again. It’s wonderful for Matteo to watch. Paul’s expression grows more and more dour with every goal David scores. For once, _Los Losers _are all cheering each other on, exchanging high fives and pats on the back. For once, they’re working as a team. David even passes Matteo the ball, when he could just as easily have made the run himself. Matteo scores _twice._ He’s ecstatic. 

In the end, they tie. Stoltz FC is second place in the league. It’s an embarrassing result for them, and almost a victory without being a victory for Los Losers.

Matteo finds David after the game. He’s still in game gear, sitting on the ground outside the locker room, smiling at something on his phone.

"Can I join you?"

David nods and he sits down.

"Not gonna shower?" David asks.

Matteo sighs. "Locker rooms is kinda triggering. Not to use that word lightly, or anything, but it's just still… weird? I guess. Showering with the guys."

"Yeah, don't get me started on locker rooms."

“Huh?”

David narrows his eyes at him. “You know I’m trans, right?”

Matteo didn’t know that.

“Oh. No. I didn't know that."

David nods. "Figured Jonas might've told you."

"He wouldn't have."

David shrugs.

"Sorry."

“Sorry?” David asks, but he’s smiling and doesn’t seem angry.

Matteo laughs. “Yeah, I don’t know.”

“Me neither.”

It shouldn’t be weird, showering with the guys. He knows that the guys wouldn’t be uncomfortable with him there, and in the end it’s all just in his mind. Before joining the team, he hadn’t really given that much thought. For years he’d thought he was fine with being himself, but football has made him realise that he probably isn’t really fine yet. He still has stuff to work on. It makes him a bit annoyed with himself, but mostly it makes him feel tired. Being gay has always meant _ work. _ Maybe David can relate to some of that, he thinks. 

“Paul really seemed like a dick,” David says.

That makes him smile. “Yeah. The biggest.”

“Sorry that I’ve been such a dick to you, too.” 

He hadn’t expected an apology from David, and he isn’t sure if he even deserves one. He’d been the one to start the fight, after all. 

“You weren’t that much of a dick.”

“I kinda was,” David smiles. “Right?”

“Kinda. Just a little.”

“Yeah.”

“But you just wanted us to do well.”

David hums and puts his phone in his pocket. 

“Sorry for pushing you,” Matteo says. 

Looking back at his own behaviour a week ago almost makes him blush. He’d been so childish. 

“Don’t…” David starts, shaking his head. “It was my fault. Sorry for being an idiot.”

He’s chuckling and it’s making Matteo laugh as well. 

A group of preteens girls have taken over the pitch by now, and they’re dribbling and practicing their tricks, and laughing like they’re having the time of their lives. Matteo never had that, he thinks, and it’s a thought that stems from the sad part inside of him, but he doesn’t mind it now. His childhood could have been better, that’s true, but life is pretty good where he is now. Maybe that’s what matters most in the end. 

“I used to play for Stoltz, actually,” David says, breaking his reverie. “I think Paul might be my replacement? Anyway. That’s why I really wanted to beat them.”

That makes every thought swerve in his brain. 

“Seriously?”

“Uh-huh.”

Matteo’s nearly spluttering. He’s a bit lost for words. It’s like the entire image he had of David in his mind is being torn down, bit by bit. 

David smiles at him. “Don’t look so shocked.”

“It’s just… with the football and the shouting,” he says. “And the not getting the _ top _joke?”

David laughs. Matteo loves the sound of it.

“I mean... “ David says, rolling his eyes. “I thought I misheard you, to be honest.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, you just… You give off a really stoner straight guy kind of vibe, you know?”

He hadn’t known that. “I do?”

“Kinda?” he says, shrugging. “Doesn’t matter now, I guess, but that was why I was being an asshole to you. I really like playing on the team, and sometimes I get a bit competitive. And then you showed up acting all… indifferent about it. Like you didn't even care. Made me pissed.”

David does have a point.

“Sorry.”

“No, no. It’s an amateur team. It’s really no big deal. We’re all just here to have fun.” 

“I had a lot of fun today, actually,” Matteo says. “Too bad we didn’t win, though.”

David hums. “There’s always next year. Still, you were really good today.” He bumps his shoulder against Matteo’s and it’s a new type of intimacy that Matteo would like to get used to.

“Thanks. You’re always good, so.”

He smiles, but looks away. There’s a blush on his cheeks, barely detectable. It makes something swoop in Matteo’s chest.

“What happened?” he asks. “With Stoltz, I mean.”

They’re sitting on a patch of grass and David puts a hand down in it, pulling at the strands. 

“They’re actually all nice guys,” he says. “But when I told them that I’m not exclusively into guys, they kicked me out.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously,” David says. “There was some explanation about the team being founded a long time ago, and the by-laws stating that they only accept _gay_ men, or whatever.” His eyebrows are pinched together as he says it.

“Well, then they’re not nice guys, then they’re all just dicks,” Matteo says.

David pulls at the strands of grass between his fingers. “You think so?”

“That’s the most arbitrary shit I’ve heard,” he says.

David has a strand between his fingers now, tearing it up into little squares. “It’s quite common though. In the gay community, I mean. Gay guys thinking that being pan or bi is like… this made up thing, you know?”

“It is?”

“Kinda? And even that makes no sense, because why would anyone even choose this? Like, straight people are always going to think I’m weird, and then gay people think I’m weird, too? It’s such a shitty deal.”

He hadn’t really considered that before. It brings back memories of one of the worst nights of his life. 

“Paul actually…” he starts, feeling like an idiot for kind of forgetting about it in the first place, “When we hooked up he asked me if I ever sleep with girls?”

David sighs, puts his hands over his face.

“And when I said no, he like… praised me for that. I hadn’t even thought about that until now. That’s really gross.”

"Jesus Christ," David says.

"Yeah."

"I'm kinda regretting not breaking his legs now."

Matteo laughs.

The image he’d constructed of David in is his mind has been torn down and broken up completely, but Matteo isn’t saddened by that. Maybe, if he’s lucky, David will help him rebuild a more accurate version. 

Everything is different after Stoltz FC. Matteo's _ aware _ of David now, in a way he hadn't been before. He's been fumbling with the ball a lot more than usual in practice. David hasn't been a dick about it, though. He's been funny, and sweet, and pushed Matteo just the right amount during practices. He's also been giving Matteo more compliments, saying things like _ great shot _ or _ nice play _ or _ looking really good, Matteo. _He never knows how to answer comments like that.

Good thing that it's easy to hide a blush when your face is already red from running.

The last game of the season is against a team of Medical students. Matteo doesn't really understand how they've made time for football in their busy schedules. About halfway through the game, he realises that they haven't. They're really not coordinated enough, and they all seem intimidated by one on one situations. It feels good, being on the opposite end of that for once. Matteo scores a goal about ten minutes in, and David hugs him. He's sweaty and it should be gross, but he smells really good, and Matteo would like the hug to last a lot longer. 

"You're so good," David says. 

He's not sure if he can even run after that because he’s weak in the knees, suddenly. 

"I have a good coach,” he says and David smiles in that small way of his.

There's more than half of the game left, though, so they get back to it.

David scores five goals, Matteo one more, and somehow even Carlos manages heading one in too. They win the game. Matteo hasn't felt so good in _ weeks. _

Jonas follows him home after the game to get the apartment ready before the boys arrive. In the post game excitement Matteo had invited them all over to his place to celebrate. He has taken care of the dishes and had a shower. Jonas has managed tidying up in the living room, had a beer, and ordered pizzas by the time Matteo joins him on the couch.

“You were so good on the field today, bro,” Jonas says, and it’s really close to what David had told him on the pitch, and yet it doesn’t make him blush at all. 

“You’re getting better,” Matteo smirks.

“Fuck you dude,” Jonas says, bottle raised high.

Matteo laughs.

“I’m so happy that you finally wanted to join the team.”

“Finally?” He’s not sure what Jonas means by that.

“Yeah, you were so against it when I started it. I’m glad you finally did.”

“Did you even ask me to join when you started it?”

“You don’t remember?” Jonas asks. “I asked you and you were all ‘no, I’m not straight enough to join, blah blah blah.’”

He kind of remembers saying something like that, now that Jonas has brought it up.

“Mhm, right.”

“And I was kinda bummed, because one of the reasons I started the team was so that the four of us could hang out more again.”

He hadn’t realised that but it makes sense. After Abi, everyone had gotten jobs or started university, and they had kind of been growing a part for a while. Matteo had been terrible at staying in touch, and he’d felt bad about that.

“I didn’t know that,” he says.

“Doesn’t matter. I’m just glad you’re on the team now. I think you might be our new number two?”

He shakes his head.

“No, I’m serious,” Jonas says. “You know you’re better than me and Carlos, right? Felix tries his best, bless him, and Karl is decent. Abdi doesn’t really count, because he’s the only one brave enough to play goalkeeper, but I mean other than that?” He raises his arms.

“Maybe David’s shouting has finally paid off,” Matteo says.

“Mhm,” Jonas says, slurping his beer. “David…” He wiggles his eyebrows.

Matteo throws a pillow at him. “Shut up.”

They’ve both had two beers each when the boys start dropping in. 

David’s hair is wet from a shower, and he’s dressed in black jeans and a striped cuban collar shirt. He’s brought beers with him. 

“I’m not even that into beer, but I’m leaning into the stereotype,” he says to Matteo in the hallway. 

“There’s Sprite in the kitchen. If you’re a _ Biermischgetränke _kind of guy.”

“Oooh,” David says, smiling like a kid at Christmas. “Nice!”

Matteo mixes David a drink and they all hang out in the living room. Everyone is a bit different outside of the football field. Matteo thinks it must be like hanging out with coworkers outside of work, awkward at first but better the longer the night goes on. He learns that Karl is a bit of a nerd, and really into something called _ Warhammer_, which is basically just playing with miniatures. He also finds out that Felix is 32 years old, a bit older than he would have thought, and that he has a really adorable daughter and a wife. It’s odd, that there’s so many things he didn’t know about these people he’s spent so much time with these past months, but maybe that’s why getting to know them better is so _ nice. _

And finally, he gets to know David. At least it feels like he gets a start. David is a huge dork. Matteo hadn’t expected it. Considering how skilled and dominant he usually comes across as on the the field, Matteo had expected him to be more of a jock. Like he would’ve been if Matteo’s life had been an American High School romantic comedy, with Matteo as the awkward alternative kid and David as his romantic interest. Matteo has to stop his brain, because that’s not how the fantasy had started _ at all. _And besides, David isn’t a jock. He’s a nerd, with seemingly endless knowledge of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. At the same time, he's a total sweetheart, who begs Felix to show more videos of his daughter trying to pronounce difficult words.

“Thor is really funny, though,” Abdi yells at some point, stuck on the MCU part of the conversation.

David pinches the bridge of his nose then, and Matteo gets a sudden and powerful urge to just lean across the coffee table and kiss him. But that’s silly, so he doesn’t.

“True!” Carlos says. “Korg and Miek are my dudes.”

“I didn’t say I dislike the films,” David says, his tone a bit different than normal, most likely testament to the five shandies he’s had. “I really love the MCU. But that’s not the point. The point is that the monoculture just terrifies me sometimes.”

“I like that Tom Hiddleston guy’s character,” Matteo says.

“You sure you don’t just like Tom Hiddleston?” Abdi wiggles his eyebrows. 

Matteo flicks a beer cap in his face.

“Loki, right? The sneaky one. He’s my favourite,” he says. 

“Well, obviously he would be." David smiles at him, his eyes a little heavier. "You're a total Slytherin, aren't you?”

Matteo snorts. "What? No, I'm not."

"You sure?" David smirks.

"Pretty sure," he says, not entirely sure why he's blushing all of a sudden.

"You say it like it's a bad thing," David says. "It's not a bad thing."

Matteo huffs. 

Both of them let their eyes linger for a bit longer than they normally would. Matteo has to look away because there’s tension in the air, suddenly. He's not sure where it came from.

“Aaalright,” Jonas says, clearing his throat. “David, I really want to hear more about your concerns about the monoculture?” 

David gets right back into it.

“This is what I listen to every day at work,” Felix says, looking jaded but with a smile on his face. 

It’s a really good night, in Matteo’s book.

He gets a text from an unknown number the next day. _ I forgot my jacket at yours. OK if I pick it up after work? Around 18. _ He texts back a thumbs up and _No classes today, so I’m home all day. _There’s a ton of jackets in the hallway, several he doesn’t recognize. It could be a text from David. It’s probably not, judging from the texting style. It sounds like something Karl would write. That doesn’t mean it couldn’t be David, though. The prospect of the jacket possibly being David’s occupies his mind for the rest of his day.

He tries reading for an exam he's got coming up but he’s feeling restless. He ends up going for a run, something that wouldn’t have happened at all only a few months back, before he’d started football. Endorphins putter around inside him afterwards, and he feels a lot better. There’s someone at the door at 17:45. Matteo’s hair is still damp from the shower, and his post dinner coffee is only halfway done. 

It’s David.

He’s wearing work clothes. Dark jeans and an open button down over a white t-shirt. Something that simple shouldn’t be _ that _attractive, Matteo thinks, but that’s just David. 

“Hey,” he says. “Sorry to barge in.”

“You texted me to say that you were coming like five hours ago,” he says. “Not sure that could ever be classified as barging in.”

“Still,” he says, following Matteo into the hallway. “It’s your day off.”

As if Matteo would ever object to having him over, regardless of day of the week. 

“Come in?” He didn’t mean to make it a question, but David has that effect on him. “I mean. There’s coffee. If you’d like.”

“Nice,” David says, toeing off his shoes. “Thanks.”

The coffee hasn’t finished yet, and once again he thinks that he should really talk to Hans about getting them a new coffee maker. David follows him into the kitchen. He hates how much it seems like he’s planned for it to go this way, with the coffee nearly done, and him fresh from the shower. Like he’s _ prepared _ for David getting there.

“I kinda thought it was Karl who texted me, first,” he says, because it’s true.

David frowns and smiles at the same time. It’s adorable. “Why?”

He shakes his head. “Dunno. I didn’t have your number, and it just sounded like him I guess.”

“Huh.”

“Yeah.” 

Matteo grabs the pot from the coffee maker, and it’s still dripping. It drips down onto the heat plate, hissing and sizzling. He puts it back. “Fuck.”

“No rush,” David says. He’s smiling.

“I think my flatmate bought this coffee maker second hand when he moved in here, and that’s like… almost ten years ago.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, it’s the worst.”

“You should get a new one."

“Well, duh,” he says, a bit harsher than he had intended. “I mean. Not everyone has that sweet, sweet Youtube money, you know.”

David laughs. “I don’t work for Youtube.”

“No, I know, but it’s something…” Matteo says, waving his hands round. “Similar? Right?”

He’s leaned back against the counter top, looking carefree and casual, just as if he belong there. “I just edit videos,” he says with the shrug of a shoulder.

“Still… it’s that sweet, sweet, cash flow, right?” 

“Fair point,” David says, smiling. 

The coffee’s finally done. Matteo pours them a cup each. He puts sugar in his, which David, who wants his black, frowns at. 

“Let’s go,” Matteo says. 

The only way to get to the balcony is through his room, which feels embarrassing and surprisingly intimate. 

“This is nice,” David says, once sitting down on one of the balcony chairs.

It’s truly September now, the winds a bit chilly, most of the leaves yellow.

“Sorry about the mess.” He nods at the pile of clothes on the bed inside.

“Is it your room?”

“Mhm.”

“It’s not that bad,” David says, taking a sip of coffee. “Is this the only balcony?”

“Yeah.”

“Who did you have to kill to get this room, then?”

“Ha-ha,” Matteo says. “Maybe I’m just really nice.”

“Oh, I bet.”

“Super charming.”

“Of course.”

Matteo isn’t sure how he’s still managing forming words into sentences because David’s having coffee with him, on his balcony, and they’re alone. He feels like a _ mess. _His throat is getting smaller than usual, his shoulders are aching from tension, and his tongue is feeling too big for his mouth. He picks up his tobacco and rolling papers from his pocket because he really needs something to do with his hands.

“Do anything fun today?” David asks.

He puts the tobacco on the paper, breaking it up a bit with his fingers as he adds more.

“Not much. I read about five pages of course literature.”

“Always something.”

“I got like fifty more to go.”

“It’s a start,” David says, taking a sip of his coffee. “You're in programming, right?”

David is a slurper. Matteo wouldn’t have pinned him as one. His movements, both on the field and just in life in general, always seem so smooth.

"Mhm."

David clicks his tongue. "You'll be making more than my sweet sweet video editing money soon enough, then."

He smiles, but his hands are trembling slightly, the rolling paper flimsy in his hands.

“Then I went for a run, actually.”

David seems genuinely surprised by that. And almost a bit smug. “Seriously?”

“Yeah. It was pretty good,” he says. “Wasn’t the same without a coach, though,” he adds, feeling slightly bold.

David laughs a little. 

His cigarette is ready. He’s not sure what to do with it, so he just keeps it in his hand, fiddling with it a bit. The coffee’s still too hot and he burns his tongue trying a sip of it.

“Gonna smoke that?” David asks. 

He becomes aware of how close they’re sitting. How their knees are almost bumping together under the small table. 

“Maybe.”

“Maybe?”

“Yeah, I, uh…” he starts. He isn’t sure where he wanted the sentence to go.

David is here, though. He’s sat down for coffee with Matteo, and he’s laughed at all of Matteo's stupid jokes this far, and he’s even more beautiful in the light of the setting September sun than he’s ever been before. 

And just like that, everything falls into place in Matteo's mind.

He _likes _David. He likes him a lot. He thinks he might have for a long time. 

Matteo goes for it, in the end. “I was thinking about kissing you, actually. So. I might save it for later… because of that.”

David twitches, the tiniest bit, at the words. His cheeks turn pink. Matteo has to look away because he's so pretty. He feels like his heart is about to jump right out of his chest.

“Oh," David says.

“Yeah.”

His fingers are a bit numb and it’s not because it’s cold outside. He looks down at them. They look just fine.

“Eyes up."

His gaze redirects on reflex. David’s even closer now.

“Save it for later,” David says, almost a whisper.

“Yeah?”

David’s fingers touch his. His touch is warm as he picks the cigarette from Matteo's hand.

“Yeah.”

He puts the cigarette on the table, puts his hand on Matteo's thigh.

“Alright,” Matteo says.

“Okay.”

Matteo kisses him. 

It feels right. The sounds around them seem to magically disappear, and the knot in his belly comes undone and gets replaced by butterflies. A single kiss has never had such an effect on him before. 

David keeps kissing him, soft and slow, until Matteo has to break them apart to catch his breath. 

David is leaning forward, almost chasing him with his lips.

“Did you actually just say _ eyes up_?” Matteo asks, huffing.

David kisses him quickly, a smile on his lips. “Well it worked, didn’t it?”

It _ totally _did.

David’s room is filled with art supplies and there’s a jumble of knick knacks on the desk. 

“What’s this?” Matteo’s picked up a piece of glass, turquoise and completely smooth.

“Oh, I found that on a beach a few years back,” David shrugs. “It’s a lucky charm, kind of. To me, I mean.”

He scratches his neck in the same way he’d done last night, after Matteo had kissed him for the first time and his cheeks had been a pretty shade of pink. 

“Cool.”

David invited him over tonight for a movie night. Matteo hasn’t been on many dates, but he thinks that this might be one, because David had kept kissing him for what had felt like hours yesterday. They haven’t kissed today, though. 

“And this?” he asks, thumbing through a sketchbook. The pages are filled with neat illustrations, broken up by what looks like sudden splashes of watercolor brightness. David snatches it from his hands.

“Don’t look,” he says, lips tight. There’s a certain kind of sparkle in his eyes. 

“What? Why not?” 

Matteo tries fluttering his eyelashes. Tries looking sweet and innocent. 

David leans his head to the side, huffing. “Maybe it’s private.”

Matteo snatches it back. “Then you should have hidden it. You knew I was coming.” 

He sits down on David’s bed with the notebook in his hands. David’s bed is soft. Soft like the light in his room, soft like the hair in the nape of his neck, and soft like his fingers when he’d brushed them against Matteo’s cheek last night. 

“I didn’t know you draw.”

David sits down next to him, shaking his head, looking bashful. “It’s nothing special.”

He’s lying, of course. The pictures are beautiful. He flips through the pages reverently, feeling like he’s looking through some great treasure. But it’s no great treasure really, it’s something even better. It’s like a key. A key to David’s mind. 

“These are so beautiful.”

So is David in the soft light in his bedroom. 

“You’re really talented,” Matteo says when David doesn’t reply. 

“Shut up.”

“No, I mean it.”

One of the pages makes him feel all weak in the knees. Like, if he hadn’t been sitting down already he probably would have fallen. It’s a picture of him. 

David isn’t looking at him, suddenly very interested in a loose thread at the end of his shirt sleeve. Matteo refocuses on the page. David’s done a watercolour of him. He's wearing his stupid headband in the picture, dirt smeared on his cheek. It’s dated weeks ago. 

“No one else from the team is in here,” he states. 

David looks a bit like he’s afraid. “Correct.”

“Why not?”

David huffs. He’s freaking adorable. Finally, he looks into Matteo’s eyes. 

“Well, I don't have a crush on any one else on the team, do I?”

Matteo can feel his heart miss a beat. 

“Crush?” He says, because he can’t really form proper sentences right now.

“Mhm.”

“On me?”

“That’s right.”

Of course, David had kissed him right back last night, and invited him over for a movie night, but Matteo had put that down to David finding him a bit attractive or whatever, not more than that. 

“You were so damn cute in that stupid headband I seriously thought I was going to lose it. But I thought you were straight,” David says. He pauses for a deep breath before he continues, “And then I found out about you and Paul, and I just… I don’t know. I kinda wanted to break his legs for real on the pitch, but that’s just jealousy talking and not a very good look for me, so I probably shouldn’t even be telling you that. And don’t get me started on when you started calling me coach. Fuck- ”

Matteo leans in and kisses him, because he can’t stop himself. Then he does it again, and again, and again.

He kisses David until there’s stubble burn on his cheeks and until his lips feel swollen. Before he knows it, he's on his back on the soft bed, David on top of him, kissing his neck. He’s not entirely sure how they ended up like that. He grabs David’s face in his palms. 

“I have a crush on you too,” he says, looking into David’s eyes. “_Coach_.”

David hides his face in Matteo’s neck and groans. 

Jonas has scheduled a team meeting. The team has assembled in his and Hanna’s flatshare, drinking coffee and snacking on Karl’s homemade _ Käsekuchen_. Matteo is lounging on the sofa, and partly on David. He can’t help that David makes such a comfortable lounging spot. He’s so soft and warm, while still feeling strong and steady enough to lean on. 

But that makes sense. He’s such a Gryffindor. Matteo hasn’t told him that yet, because he knows it would make him embarrassed. He keeps claiming he’s a Slytherin. Matteo is doubtful. Last week they’d been making out in David’s bed when David had stopped, looked down at him, blinked, and said _Wait a minute._ _You’re a Hufflepuff! Right? God, I’m stupid. _Matteo had laughed and pulled him down for another kiss. 

“I just wanted to call this meeting to tell you how proud I am of everyone for this season,” Jonas starts. 

Abdi snorts. “Dude, we’re came dead last in the league. We ended with a goal difference of minus a hundred.”

He feels David’s chest vibrating against his back as he giggles. It’s only been three weeks since they kissed each other for the first time. When David puts his arm over Matteo’s shoulder, and his hand on top of his, he can feel his heart doing somersaults in his chest. 

Jonas sighs. “I know. I thought we could maybe talk strategy in preparation for next year? So we don’t end up in a similar spot.”

Karl is slurping coffee and Carlos’s face is stuffed with _ Käsekuchen. _

“Guys, I’m not sure if strategy is gonna get us very far,” Felix says. “I mean, I for one am pretty sure that I’m actually just pretty shitty at football. And not to be an asshole or anything, but that goes for most of us here.”

As David smiles and chuckles, Matteo feels the soft puff of his breath against his ear. His body is soft and heavy at the same time and he feels like he’s about to melt into a puddle. Before David, he hadn’t known that an other person’s body could feel so _ good _ against his. He’d known that sex was nice, with the right person. And sex with David had been even more spectacular than Matteo had imagined. But this isn't even about sex. David’s body, even fully clothed, makes his heart slow down and any tension slip away. It’s like they just _ fit_. Matteo hopes he’ll never have to let him go. 

“Yeah, Felix is right, man,” Carlos says, mouth full of cake. “I know I’m a lost cause. But that doesn’t mean it’s not fun to play. I don’t care about winning.”

“Yeah, me neither,” Matteo says. “I just wanna hang out with you guys.”

Jonas looks at him with this sincere warmth in his eyes that almost feels too real.

“Hah!” Abdi says. “Yeah sure, Matteo. Now we all know why you _ actually _ kept coming to practice.” He raises his eyebrows, looking at David.

“Yeah, dude,” Carlos smiles, mimicking Abdi’s suggestive eyebrow wagging.

David kisses the top of his head then, and Matteo feels the tips of his ears going red.

“Shut up.”

“I mean, winning is always nice but that’s not why we joined the team, Jonas,” Karl says. “We joined the team because it’s fun to be on the team. Right, guys?”

Everyone nods and hums in agreement.

“Yeah, winning isn’t that important,” David says.

Jonas looks like he’s nearly overtaken by emotion. 

“Did you really invite us hear to talk strategy?” Matteo asks, because he knows Jonas, and that just doesn’t seem at all like Jonas’s truth. 

Jonas slumps, nibbling on a piece of cake.

“Maybe I missed you guys,” he says, shrugging.

It’s all quiet before Abdi takes Jonas in a bear hug.

“Missed you too, you big softie.”

David takes his hand later, as they’re walking back to Matteo’s flat. He’s been sleeping in Matteo’s bed nearly every night since the first one. 

The meeting had turned into a regular hang out with several more pots of coffee. In the end, they’d decided that the team is still going to get together once a week during the off season, for coffee, or video games, or whatever they’re in the mood for. 

“You really don’t care about winning?” Matteo asks.

David smiles at him. "Not really."

"Liar."

David huffs. "Well, it's not the most important thing in the world."

David is an still enigma to him in a lot of ways, but that's one of the things Matteo likes about him. He's kind of a jock, who edits films for work, and makes art as a pastime. He's silly most of the time, but stern when he needs to be. And best of all, he seems just as curious about Matteo as Matteo is about him. He makes Matteo feel _seen, _makes him feel important. _Maybe he's a Ravenclaw? _Matteo ponders the idea.

Maybe none of that matters. Maybe what matters is that he's here, with Matteo, and that they have all the time in the world to get to know each other.

"Besides," David says, looking down at their entwined hands, "It feels a lot like I've already won."

**Author's Note:**

> Is this the fluffiest thing I've ever written? MAYBE SO. 
> 
> Also, shout out to the German flatmate I had once, who kept mixing beer with Sprite. It looked terrible but at least I could put it in a fanfic.
> 
> Anywaaay. Thank you for reading! Please let me know if you enjoyed this.
> 
> I hang out on tumblr a lot. You can find me [here](https://a-station-on-your-way.tumblr.com/).


End file.
